Book Description

Based on a Conservation International conference in Panama, this book brings together the world's leading experts on rain forest development and sustainability. ... Read more

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Life in the Treetops reflects many of the difficulties faced by women scientists in all fields. Margaret Lowman, a field biologist specializing in forest-canopy research, shows how dealing with the emotional challenges is as tough as or tougher than dangling from a precarious perch counting beetles or facing down a deadly sea snake. This chronicle of her adventures (and misadventures) among the treetops encourages readers to understand both the science and the scientist. One can't help but sympathize with Lowman as she struggles to be a good researcher and a traditional rural housewife at the same time, and fails. Luckily, her kids and parents always remain supportive, taking care of the house during her long absences and accompanying her to faraway research stations when possible. Lowman studies small things--leaves and insects, mostly--and getting to them can be tricky. She chronicles the history of forest-canopy research techniques (which have grown apace with her career), starting with simple climbing gear and ending with treetop walkways and giant construction cranes. Life in the Treetops is an engaging look at one woman's struggle to find balance, whether she's high up in a tree or on the ground with her fellow humans. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Margaret Explains It All
Margaret Lowman writes candidly about her life... as though we were the closest of friends. I expected her to write about her research, the difficulties of climbing into the rainforest canopies, and her globe trotting. And she did. She also writes of the professional challenges, cultural clashes, and personal problems she encounters as a woman in field biology, and that makes this book something quite special.

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE: Lowman married an Australian, had two children and lived in the outback, while conducting research on the Australian rain forests. On the personal side, she was expected to be a housewife, and mother. Her new Australian husband, and in-laws, did not understand her inner drive to spend time in her work. While clearly her new family did not support her in her work, Lowman persisted and achieved. She also made a decision to accept a teaching position at Williams College back in the US. She packed up the boys, and headed for home. She exchanged her marriage, and the boy's father, for a surprisingly supportive scientific community and her own supportive parents. Lowman tells of her personal life with candor, but without bitterness. While no one could accuse her of having an ordinary life, Lowman's book is also an every woman's story in that she chronicles the kind of day-to-day struggle of professional/career women faced (particularly in the 1970's and 1980's) in balancing career and family.

ON THE PROFESSIONAL SIDE: To help understand the interdependence of the rainforests Lowman mostly studies the small things... leaves, and the insects that eat them. It sounds easier than it is. Most of the leaves to be studied are high up in the canopy of the rain forests. Early in her career, she gains access using ropes and harnesses, and even a cherry picker when she was pregnant; later she has the luxury of using a construction crane, a dirigible, and even a walkway. Lowman loves the forests, and her work. (Her book contains an illustration of her favorite tree, ficus watkinsiana.)

Lowman ends the book telling us that it takes about the "same amount of energy to complain as it does to explain-but the results are incredibly different." Her book explains a great deal. I highly recommend it.

My thoughts on this book
This unique book is about Margaret Lowman's life as a self-described field biologist who studies the mysteries of forest canopies, one of the last biotic frontiers on Earth. In Life in the Treetops, Lowman is a pioneer canopy scientist she describes the little known worlds of the treetops, their inhabitants, flowers and fruits, growth and mortality, patterns of diversity, and plant and animal interactions. Lowman writes about how, in order with the scientific hypothesis she was focusing on, a different canopy access technique was used. She's particularly good at exposing the life of a field biologist from a woman's perspective, what it was like to cope: with the demands of a challenging career; with marriage to an Australian sheep farmer; with housewifery; with motherhood to two young sons; with conflicting cultural differences about gender roles; and with divorce and single parenthood. Lowman's descriptions of her various arboreal ecological projects were fascinating. She emphasized the pleasures and intellectual rewards of studying the natural world without ignoring the projected vicissitudes of researching in wilderness settings. In the end Lowman is the director of research and conservation at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. This is an inspiring story for everyone, not just for women or those interested in careers in science, but for everyone.

A young woman's perspective
As a young woman who hopes with all her heart and works with all of her passion to be a scientist one day, I recommend this novel without a doubt. Dr. Lowman attacks every issue she faces head on, candidly describing her emotion and scientific endeavors as if the reader is a personal friend. As a female, I myself can relate to her described frustration of being a woman in a primarily male field. Even my closest male friends look at me with doubt and treat my five year love affair (ongoing, of course) with science as a joke simply because I am female (as the butt of their jokes imply). It's wondorous to read of other accounts involving similar emotion. On a scientific note, Dr. Lowman makes no adjustments for fear of the reader who does not care for biology; she writes about science just as she writes about emotion. For that, I urge parents to prod their children to read this memoir, adults to read, and all others to digest.

Well-written account of a life in science
Margaret Lowman is a gifted biologist with a knack for finding ways to teach others the importance of her field and the need for conservation. Her adventures range from the humorous to the frightening and are guaranteed to hold the reader's interest. I held off a five-star rating only because I would have liked a little more information on some of the animals she's studied. Her impressions of Nature's little-known and often-overlooked creatures are valuable and fascinating, and I wish more space had been devoted to them. That's a minor quibble, though. As a writer on nature myself, I came away from reading this book with an improved understanding of how complex the "web of life" is, not to mention a determination to get my own children out into the forests more often.

Life in the Treetops
Margaret Lowman's story, Life in the Treetops, is an inspiration for young women considering a life in science. She tells how she balanced a career as a field biologist, studying the forest canopy, with being a wife and mother, and eventually a single parent. Her stories of her experiences as a researcher and tree climber in such exotic locals as the Australian outback, Cameroon, Belize and Panama are intermingled with her observations about the inhabitants of these locals, the people she worked with and her sons. Her perseverance in a field dominated by men has given her an interesting perspective about science and life in general. ... Read more

Book Description

A rich, interdisciplinary study of Central African land ethics incorporating conversations with local rainforest inhabitants that yield vibrant new insights into the dilemmas of sustaining Africa's rainforests and its people. In Conversations in the Rainforest, Richard B. Peterson combines interdisciplinary research and intimate, first-hand conversations with members of various indigenous communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He reveals the startling depth and clarity of local peoples' perspectives on nature, on Western-backed conservation projects, and on the challenges of preserving Africa's rainforests. In doing so, Peterson points toward an environmental ethic applicable to rainforests and to the world at large. Can any lessons for long-term environmental sustainability come from Africa, a continent long perceived more as a cauldron of environmental disasters than a cradle of environmental solutions? In Conversations in the Rainforest, Richard B. Peterson answers an emphatic yes. Peterson deftly interweaves the ideas of African and Africanist historians, theologians, anthropologists, philosophers, writers, and ecologists with a series of remarkable conversations he shared with inhabitants of the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet, rather than remain in the background of his analysis, these conversations-on subjects ranging from traditional interpretations of nature to contemporary indigenous perspectives on modern environmental challenges-constitute the very core of this book. Through this enlightening and frequently mesmerizing narrative approach, Peterson brings the foundations of Central African land ethics into vivid relief. With uncommon empathy and insight, he shows how ecological and social sustainability projects in the region can be based more firmly on these foundations. This book holds invaluable lessons for environmental practitioners, scholars, and anyone interested in long-term environmental sustainability on a global level. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

We are part of nature not set apart from it.
Professor Peterson believes that:
1)The commercialized use, more than indigenous peoples' use of the forest lies at the root of Africa's environmental problems.
2)Central African traditional ecological knowledge suggests that we would do better to try to control the market forces that lead to overexploitation of the environment rather than unjustly restrict the subsistence practices of people who have lived in these forests much longer than ourselves.
3)The environmental wisdom of Central African forest peoples stems from the knowledge and belief that nature and humans are never separate entities but parts of one system.
4)We are part of nature not set apart from it.
5)Nature and culture, humans and environment, social ethics and environmental ethics, ecology and justice go hand in hand.
6)It is not humans or nature that are central; rather it is life that is primary, and that includes the entire community of life, for all of life is important, all of life is bonded, all of life is sacred. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Third World resources feed First World consumption and waste
This is a story written in diary format by the author who after a year as an exchange professor at Tokyo University spent part of the next year living with native activists fighting the resistance to Japanese logging, and Japanese timber camp managers, on Borneo,the third largest island on earth which lies just north of the Indonesian archipelago in the South China Sea. This is a poignant travel narrative as well as a serious environmental study of the exploitation of third world resources. The true irony of the story of Borneo's rapdily disappearing rainforest, and the local corruption and greed which siphon off most of the profits, while native rights and land uses are obliterated, (sounds like America in the early 19th century!) is that most of the timber shipped to Japan is used to feed Japan's wholesale adoption of American habits: buy it, use it, throw it away, buy another! Much of the wood is being used to make cheap furniture and plywood forms for concrete that are thrown away after several uses. Unlike America's own trees on vast land masses,Japan has little to support such habits. This is really another story which is symptomatic of first world countries exploitation of third world resources - and the hypocrisy of the United States' condemnation of such practices. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Botanical Review, published by New York Botanical Garden on January 1, 2001. The length of the article is 30723 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: On the Role of Microenvironmental Heterogeneity in the Ecology and Diversification of Neotropical Rain-Forest Palms (Arecaceae).
Author: Jens-christian Svenning
Publication: The Botanical Review (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2001
Publisher: New York Botanical Garden
Volume: 67Issue: 1Page: 1

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This digital document is an article from The Geographical Review, published by American Geographical Society on July 1, 1996. The length of the article is 11030 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: Keywords: Alaska, Amazonia, conservation, globalization, protected areas, spatial determinism.

Citation Details
Title: Local struggles over rain-forest conservation in Alaska and Amazonia.
Author: Edward A. Whitesell
Publication: The Geographical Review (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 1996
Publisher: American Geographical Society
Volume: v86Issue: n3Page: p414(23)

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This digital document is an article from The Geographical Journal, published by Royal Geographical Society on March 1, 2003. The length of the article is 573 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: African Rain Forest Ecology and Conservation: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. (Reviews).(Book Review)
Author: Uwem E. Ite
Publication: The Geographical Journal (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2003
Publisher: Royal Geographical Society
Volume: 169Issue: 1Page: 95(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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This digital document is an article from Science Weekly, published by Science Weekly, Inc. on November 26, 1999. The length of the article is 477 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Rainforests.(home to half the world's plants and animals)
Publication: Science Weekly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 26, 1999
Publisher: Science Weekly, Inc.
Volume: 16Issue: 7Page: 1

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This digital document is an article from Instructor (1990), published by Scholastic, Inc. on April 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1049 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Activities: Discover the underwater world of the "rainforests of the sea" with these great tech activities. (Coral Reefs).(Brief Article)
Author: Laura Beech
Publication: Instructor (1990) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2002
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Volume: 111Issue: 7Page: 75(2)

Article Type: Brief Article

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This digital document is an article from World Watch, published by Worldwatch Institute on November 1, 1999. The length of the article is 670 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Death sentence for a tropical forest.
Author: Lisa Mastny
Publication: World Watch (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 1999
Publisher: Worldwatch Institute
Volume: 12Issue: 6Page: 10

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This digital document is an article from Phytomedicine: International Journal of Phytotherapy & Phytopharmacology, published by Urban & Fischer Verlag on July 1, 2004. The length of the article is 4118 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Screening of some Australian Flacourtiaceae species for in vitro antioxidant, cytotoxic and antimicrobial activity.(Short Communication)
Author: M.A. Mosaddik
Publication: Phytomedicine: International Journal of Phytotherapy & Phytopharmacology (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2004
Publisher: Urban & Fischer Verlag
Volume: 11Issue: 5Page: 461(6)

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This digital document is an article from Pacific Science, published by University of Hawaii Press on October 1, 2002. The length of the article is 5683 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Brown root rot disease in American Samoa's tropical rain forests (1).
Author: Fred E. Brooks
Publication: Pacific Science (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Volume: 56Issue: 4Page: 377(11)

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Economic Issues, published by Association for Evolutionary Economics on June 1, 2001. The length of the article is 97944 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Debt-for-Nature Swaps, Market Imperfections, and Policy Failures as Determinants of Sustainable Development and Environmental Quality.
Author: Dal Didia
Publication: Journal of Economic Issues (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2001
Publisher: Association for Evolutionary Economics
Volume: 35Issue: 2Page: 477

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This digital document is an article from Multinational Monitor, published by Essential Information, Inc. on June 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1623 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Warning: World Bank Policies Destroy Forests.
Author: Korinna Horta
Publication: Multinational Monitor (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2000
Publisher: Essential Information, Inc.
Volume: 21Issue: 6Page: 13

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This digital document is an article from Nomadic Peoples, published by Berghahn Books, Inc. on December 1, 2001. The length of the article is 7446 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: State's margins, people's centre: space and history in Southern Thai jungles.
Author: Annette Hamilton
Publication: Nomadic Peoples (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 2001
Publisher: Berghahn Books, Inc.
Volume: 5Issue: 2Page: 89(15)

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This digital document is an article from The Futurist, published by World Future Society on January 1, 1990. The length of the article is 5335 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The healing forest: the search for new jungle medicines.
Author: Mark J. Plotkin
Publication: The Futurist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 1990
Publisher: World Future Society
Volume: v24Issue: n1Page: p9(6)

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